Why are my 4080 super frametimes so erratic in cyberpunk path tracing?

[Jerry_H]

I just upgraded to a 4080 Super expecting a huge boost, but in Cyberpunk 2077 with path tracing at 1440p, my framerate still dips into the 50s in dense city areas. My CPU is a 5800X3D and I’m not seeing full GPU utilization, so I’m wondering if I’ve hit a different bottleneck or if there’s a specific setting causing this inconsistent frametime issue.

[GaryH]

I get it. I upgraded to a 4080 Super and in crowded city blocks I still dip into the 50s at 1440p with RT on. I found enabling DLSS in performance mode helps smooth things out a lot, even if the frame cap isn’t perfect. It feels less like a pure GPU bottleneck and more like how the game splits work between CPU and GPU in those scenes.

[GeorgeJL]

Without DLSS the stutters are more obvious, and the GPU never seems fully maxed out in the same spots. It makes me think the issue is how the game tries to thread a lot of AI and lighting on the CPU side; I could be wrong, though.

[Jerry.L]

Do you have resizable BAR enabled in the BIOS? Some folks report those handoffs between CPU and GPU improve in heavy city scenes, others say it does nothing.

[ElizabethC]

I messed with the basics first—closed background tasks, set Windows to a high performance power plan, and ran in exclusive fullscreen. The variance cooled a notch, but it didn’t fix the underlying hiccups. Maybe it’s patchy optimization in the city blocks.